Kaiser Coalition scrambles as Alliance unions begin bargaining

Here’s the latest.

Next week, the Alliance of Health Care Unions will begin bargaining with Kaiser Permanente, according to sources. The Alliance includes the Teamsters, Steelworkers, AFSCME, American Federation of Teachers, UFCW, ILWU, Operating Engineers and the KPNAA.

What about the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (SEIU, OPEIU and IFPTE)?

Coalition leaders will meet next Tuesday to discuss their response to Kaiser’s proposal to enter into a new partnership deal with the giant HMO, say sources.

What’s Kaiser’s proposal?

After the partnership unions fractured in two over Dave Regan’s effort to seize more decision-making power, Kaiser gathered representatives from nearly all its unions on May 7 at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland and told them Kaiser would like to become partners with each of the two coalitions. Kaiser handed out a draft partnership agreement -- basically a modified version of the original agreement signed in the 1990s.

The new agreement has provisions that appear to be designed specifically to deal with SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan and the problems that swirl around him like stripes on a candy cane.

For example, one new provision would bar members of the partnership from backing “harmful” ballot initiatives or legislation. It looks like Kaiser adopted the same language that Regan penned into his secret deal with the California Hospital Association in 2014. The draft agreement reads:

Members of the Partnership, including KP and all individual local unions who are members of the Partnership, shall not pursue, sponsor or support legislation or ballot initiatives, which are specifically targeted at and the primary purpose of which is to harm another member of the Partnership. A Member of the Partnership who violates this section shall be expelled from the Partnership…

Another new provision would allow unions to expel a union from the partnership by majority vote. We can call this the “Dave Regan rule.” The draft agreement says:

…there may come a time when a majority of Union Parties believe there is cause to expel an individual union party. Should this occur, the Union Parties may expel an individual union party by majority vote of the senior union leadership designated from the union parties (not counting the individual union to be expelled).

Meanwhile, Regan and the Coalition have been stung by Kaiser’s announcement that it will not negotiate a “national agreement” with the Coalition this year. The current “national agreement” expires on September 30, 2018.

Earlier this week, the Coalition filed an “unfair labor practice” charge with the NLRB alleging that Kaiser’s action is illegal. (See a copy of the Coalition’s leaflet below.) The NLRB will now conduct an investigation to determine whether there’s any substance to the Coalition’s allegations.

Also, the Coalition asked the leaders of some affiliated unions to send a letter to Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson to ask him why Kaiser is not bargaining a national agreement with the Coalition this year. Observers describe the letter as “pathetic.” See below.

Meanwhile, NUHW has already scheduled multiple dates this summer to bargain with Kaiser over contracts covering 4,000 workers that expire September 30.

In another interesting move, Kaiser has reportedly asked NUHW to consider forming a more collaborative relationship with the HMO. Sources say NUHW ruled out the idea of joining either of the partnership groups. However, its rank-and-file leaders are reportedly discussing whether they’re open to negotiating one-on-one with Kaiser over their future relationship.

   Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions: Leaflet on ULP Charges over delayed bargaining (May 2018) by tastysternburger on Scribd

   Coalition Affiliates: Letter to CEO of Kaiser Permanente on Postponement of Partnership Bargaining (5-1-18)... by tastysternburger on Scribd

Source: Dave Regan Will Withdraw Ballot Initiative Targeting Kaiser Permanente

According to an internal source, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan will soon withdraw the California ballot initiative he recently filed against Kaiser Permanente.

There’s no official confirmation of the withdrawal yet, but Tasty’s internal sources say it’s coming.

Last week, top officials from the labor-management partnership unions convened in Washington DC for a closed-door meeting with Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson. 

At a pre-meeting, some union leaders reportedly discussed the idea of tossing SEIU-UHW out of the labor-management partnership. Kaiser earlier barred SEIU-UHW from participating in the partnership’s 2018 national bargaining.

Meanwhile, last week Kaiser mounted a direct-mail campaign targeting SEIU-UHW’s members with news that Regan’s initiative -- which could place a cap Kaiser’s future revenues -- would undermine the HMO’s ability to fund SEIU-UHW members’ pensions and other benefits.

Regan’s withdrawal of the initiative is not a shocker. After all, Regan has a track record of committing a staggering series of f*uck-ups when it comes to is ballot initiatives.

In 2016, Regan was forced to withdraw an Arizona ballot initiative targeting the hospital industry after hiring paid circulators who collected 281,000 signatures from voters. Why? Regan apparently forgot to make sure the signature-gatherers were legally qualified to collect signatures. Whoops!

Also in 2016, Regan was forced to drop a California ballot initiative against the California Hospital Association because it violated a gag clause that Regan himself had earlier signed as part of his secret deal with hospital executives.

In each withdrawal, Regan had already spent millions of SEIU-UHW members’ funds on the failed efforts.

On Monday, Politico’s Victoria Colliver also noted Regan’s record of misfiring on his million-dollar ballot initiatives.

SEIU-UHW has a history of filing ballot measures that would affect organizations whose workers it represents, or wants to. Most of them never actually get voted on: The union has often dropped them partway through the arduous ballot-qualification process…

The referendum strategy doesn't come cheap. It costs money to file measures, pay people to gather signatures, hire lawyers to review language and fend off challenges, and foot the bill for advertising and other expenses associated with mounting what is basically a political campaign.

The union has spent $21.2 million on ballot measures in California since the 2012 election cycle…

Union Heads Meet with Kaiser CEO in D.C. over Dave Regan’s Ballot Initiative

SEIU's Mary Kay Henry and AFSCME's Lee Saunders

Dave Regan’s ballot initiative against Kaiser Permanente prompted a secret confab this week in Washington DC, say Tasty’s sources.

On Monday, Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson reportedly met with top officials from the partnership unions, known as the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.

Who was in the room?

The presidents of many of the international unions that participate in the partnership including the AFT’s Randi Weingarten and AFSCME’s Lee Saunders. 

SEIU’s Mary Kay Henry reportedly attended a pre-meeting, but then ducked out of the room before the Kaiser CEO showed up. It looks like Mary Kay Henry didn’t want to face Tyson, who says SEIU-UHW’s ballot initiative would jeopardize the future financial stability of the HMO.

Meanwhile, Kaiser took another shot at Regan this week.

The HMO mailed a two-page letter to the homes of tens of thousands of SEIU-UHW members with the heading, “We need your help securing our future together: Help stop an attack on Kaiser Permanente.” The letter calls on the union’s members to contact Regan and tell him to “stop putting our future at risk.” Tasty guesses this is one piece of what’ll likely be a campaign to turn the hearts and minds of SEIU-UHW members against their erratic president.

Regan, after parachuting into California into 2009, surgically attached himself to the hips of Kaiser’s execs… even working with them to try to break strikes by NUHW and the California Nurses Association. So it’s not hard to understand why Regan’s recent attack on Kaiser -- which caused Kaiser execs to block SEIU-UHW from participating in upcoming national bargaining -- is causing SEIU-UHW’s members to scratch their heads.

Here’s a copy of the letter Kaiser sent to SEIU-UHW members:

   Kaiser Permanente's Letter to Workers regarding SEIU-UHW's California Ballot Initiative: 01-23-2018 by tastysternburger on Scribd

Kaiser's "Partnership Unions" Prepare for Bargaining amid Fireworks

Kaiser CEO at CKPU's conference

The “partnership” unions are beginning to prepare for next year’s negotiations with Kaiser Permanente… which means it’s time for more “instant recesses,” dance-offs, “Contract Buddy,” Team Salad Days, and Zumba.

However, in an interesting new development, Tasty’s sources also report growing tensions between various partnership unions.

Here’s what Tasty knows.

Two weekends ago (August 25-27), the partnership unions -- the “Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions” -- held a three-day conference at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower in Portland, Oregon.

Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson spoke to the conference, which also included multiple “Thrive activities,” Zumba, and “Instant Recesses” to the music of Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars.

Other items on the agenda?

"Reflections on 20 Years of Partnering" and workshops including "The Road to Workplace Wellness," "Projecting Confidence and Credibility," "BMI Boot Camp: Become a Trail Blazer for Health," and "Tag – You’re It."

In 2012, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan famously pushed the partnership unions to implement an invasive “wellness” program” that allows Kaiser officials to monitor employees’ biometric data including their BMI (“Body Mass Index”), blood pressure, smoking rate, and cholesterol level. Instead of strikes, Regan pressed Kaiser workers to wear “purple pedometers” and conduct “wellness walks” to get in shape for their employer.

So what about the tensions between partnership unions?

 

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan speaking at CKPU conference

Tasty’s sources say those arose on Sunday, when leaders of various partnership unions, including Regan, addressed the conference about next year’s negotiations with Kaiser. 

Apparently, multiple unions successfully banded together to outvote Regan and SEIU-UHW on various issues… which angered Regan.

How to fix it? 

Regan proposed changing the voting rules in order to give Regan and SEIU-UHW more votes… which of course angered the other unions.

According to Tasty’s sources, the tensions burst into the open with Ragin’ Dave Regan literally screaming from the podium and attacking the partnership unions that opposed him.

Here’s how one source put it: “Regan lost it. He was screaming his ass off. I know the dude is a hothead, but I didn’t expect this.”

Stay tuned for more…

Are Kaiser Permanente's execs headed to Sing Sing? San Quentin?

Last week, several of Kaiser Permanente’s patients and the "Courage Campaign," a grassroots organization in California, held a press conference where they slammed Kaiser for systematically withholding critical mental health services from patients.

During the past two years, state investigators have fined Kaiser millions of dollars for committing "serious" and "systemic" violations of state law by withholding care from thousands of mental health patients, falsifying patients' appointment records, and violating mental health parity laws. (Los Angeles Times, "California Again Slams Kaiser for Delays in Mental Health Treatment," February 24, 2015)

Kaiser's violations are also highlighted in class-action lawsuits that link the violations to multiple suicides.

Last year, Kaiser famously signed a secret agreement with its largest union, SEIU-UHW, which bars the union and its members from reporting patient-care violations to state regulators, according to a complaint NUHW filed with the California Attorney General.

What could possibly be causing Kaiser’s execs to turn their backs on patients with mental illness, who are one of our society's most vulnerable populations?

Profits, of course.

In addition… a reader has sent along a photo that offers interesting clues about the elitist corporate culture that permeates Kaiser's top echelon of fatcat execs.

 

Part of Kaiser's 17.8-acre administrative office park in Pleasanton, Calif.

The photo comes from Kaiser's administrative offices in Pleasanton, Calif., a 17.8-acre suburban campus that the HMO purchased from computer giant Oracle Corp. in 2008 for upwards of $100 million. It's a sterile, glass-enclosed, tree-lined, corporate theme park that would make most people's stomach turn.

Just a few minutes away, Kaiser's CEO Bernard Tyson owns a multi-million-dollar, 6,121-square foot house with a swimming pool out back.

So… what's the clue about Kaiser's elitist corporate culture?

Apparently, Kaiser's execs at the Pleasanton corporate park decided they could score a few laughs at the expense of America's skyrocketing incarcerated population, 40% of whom are people with mental illness.

The US’s prison crisis is not typically considered a laughing matter. 

The US has the largest incarcerated population of any country in the world (one in 99 adults are living behind bars in the US). African-Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites.

But for Kaiser's country club execs, this is apparently a laughing matter.

At their corporate office-park utopia in aptly named Pleasanton, Kaiser decided to name the conference rooms after America's most notorious prisons: Sing Sing, San Quentin, Angola, Attica, Leavenworth, Cook County Jail, Alcatraz, etc. 

Check out the picture from Kaiser's corporate offices at 5810 Owens Drive in Pleasanton.

A list of Kaiser's conference rooms at 5810 Owens Drive, Pleasanton

Apparently, Kaiser's execs are enjoying endless laughs as its overpaid managers -- dressed in three-piece suits and armed with lattes, gold watches, and iPhones -- parade through corporate conference rooms named after the prisons housing millions of the US's most marginalized residents.

"Can you meet at 2:00pm to discuss next quarter’s profit targets?"

"Sure, where are we meeting?"

"How about Sing Sing? Or maybe you'd prefer San Quentin? In that case, ya better give the wife a heads-up cuz I hear people usually do 25 to life in San Quentin. Ha, ha, ha.”

There’s nothing quite like an arrogant HMO that decides to thumb its nose at millions of largely poor, black, brown, and mentally ill people caged inside our prisons.

Here's a humble suggestion. 

Kaiser’s execs should pull their iPhones out of their asses and read this newly published article in The Atlantic: "America's Largest Mental Hospital Is a Jail." It begins: "At Cook County Jail, an estimated one in three inmates has some form of mental illness. At least 400,000 inmates currently behind bars in the United States suffer from some type of mental illness…"

Next, Kaiser might wanna change the name of its conference rooms to something like, uh, "Mental Health Parity" or "Cultural Competence." 

Finally, Kaiser should spend some of its $15.5 billion in profits to actually fix its notorious problems that deny thousands of Kaiser's own members from getting adequate mental health care.

Contract Buddy battles Mickey Mouse at Kaiser Partnership Bargaining

In case you’re wondering what's happening inside the Kaiser partnership negotiations, here are a few images and an inspiring video from the negotiations.

Remember... these are the same negotiations where SEIU-UHW's main contract spokesperson is a cartoon character called "Contract Buddy” …and SEIU’s only worker-mobilization effort has been a "walkathon" attended by a handful of workers.

Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson -- who just announced that Kaiser pocketed $1 billion in profits during the first three months of 2015 -- seems very pleased with the Disneyfication of labor negotiations. Tyson even agreed to hang colorful worker-made trinkets atop his pinstriped suit to please the crowd.

Meanwhile, as workers’ bargaining teams are distracted by their Kaiser-paid weekends at Disneyland and dance-a-thons, SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan and the unions' other top officials cut secret deals with the bosses behind closed doors.

Kaiser CEO Tyson: "Check out my new partnership jewelry"

Regan's lieutenant: Hal Ruddick

Kaiser's "Partnership" Bargaining Begins as Goofy Hugs Delegates

This week, the "partnership unions" are holding their first bargaining session with Kaiser Permanente at the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel in Southern California (April 14-16).

Wanna have a glimpse at partnership “bargaining”?

Check out the following photos, tweets and messages from SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan, Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson, Kaiser Coalition Exec. Dir. Hal Ruddick, and others. They come from the "bargaining kickoff" held earlier this month (March 30-April 1) as well as the partnership unions' "Union Delegate Conference" at Disneyland (March 27-29).

Staffers from the Labor Management Partnership were so thrilled by the speeches of top union and Kaiser leaders that they tweeted excerpts to the outside world. Here's an interesting excerpt from SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan's speech: "Negotiations are not a debate and tantrums don't work."

Hmm. So if you can't actually "debate" the Boss across the bargaining table about workers' wages, health benefits, staffing levels, pensions, etc... then WTF are contract "negotiations" for? 

Hal Ruddick, the Chief Negotiator for the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, absolutely loved Diamond Dave's quote! In fact, he tweeted it himself. Way to go, Hal!

Here's another revealing quote from Regan: "We have chosen strategic collaboration." Here, Regan is referencing this infamous interview on NBC television, where he reported that our economy no longer has "employers" and "workers" -- only partners who work in a "teamwork economy." 

Btw, Regan really hates it when workers criticize management. (Ohh, and that goes for all of you SEIU-UHW members who are getting layoff notices from Kaiser despite the company's $3.1 billion in profits last year. Stop criticizing, dammit. Partnership really works).

Here's Ruddick, one of Regan's lieutenants, speaking to the crowd about "leading."

Here's the multi-million-dollar CEO of Kaiser, Bernard Tyson, doing a panel discussion with Hal Ruddick and Kathleen Theobald, the Executive Director of Kaiser Permanente Nurse Anesthetists Association (KPNAA), during the Union Delegates Conference.

Interestingly, even though they're management, Tyson and other Kaiser execs attended the Coalition's "Union Delegates Conference," where "delegates" are presumably supposed to prepare their bargaining strategy for negotiations with the Boss.

Instead... the partnership unions turned the delegates conference into a full-blown propaganda party for Kaiser's fatcat execs, who are systematically working to slash and burn workers' health benefits, pensions, and wages.

Here's Meg Niemi, the President of SEIU Local 49, hugging Kaiser's top HR official, Dennis Dabney. Dabney, who favors $5,000 dollar suits, decided to dress down for the workers.

Here's CEO Tyson at the Union Delegates Conference.

Check this out. The partnership unions and Kaiser even served a "partnership" cake to the delegates!

In case you're wondering... CEO Tyson had a "great" time at the Union Delegate Conference, according to his tweet.

Before the conference was over, the partnership unions placed posters of Tyson in the lobby areas of the Union Delegates Conference. Remember -- Tyson is trying to eliminate workers' pension plan even though Kaiser gives him 9 separate pension plans!

All in all, the delegates -- who are supposed to safeguard the interests of 90,000 Kaiser workers -- had a super awesome time.

And in case Regan, Ruddick and Tyson weren't entertaining enough, the LMP staff even brought along Goofy and other Disney characters to work the delegates!

Wow! This partnership sure is "innovative!"

Update on Kaiser Partnership Bargaining

What happened at this week’s "kickoff” of labor negotiations between Kaiser Permanente and the "partnership unions”?

Well… there wasn't any actual "bargaining."

After a three-day weekend of prancing around Disneyland with Kaiser execs, the partnership unions spent Monday and Tuesday in a "bargaining kickoff.” On Monday, Kaiser’s execs and union officials made speeches interspersed with "Instant Recesses” and "Thrive Activities" to keep participants awake.

On Tuesday, the unions were trained on how to do “interest-based bargaining.”

As far as speeches, sources say Chuck Columbus (Senior VP and Chief Human Resources Officer for Kaiser) was the first speaker and offered a gloom-and-doom picture about the vague, but very dangerous, "challenges" lurking in Kaiser’s future.

Don’t trust Chuck.

He formerly served as the VP of Human Resources at Ford Motor Co., where he eliminated the defined-benefit pension plan for new hires and forced them into a 401(k) plan. He also implemented a two-tiered wage system that pays new Ford employees only half as much as regular employees. This pushed Ford’s profits through the roof.

In 2009, Kaiser's then-CEO George Halvorson and COO Bernard Tyson recruited Columbus to do the same thing at Kaiser… with the assistance of SEIU’s newly implanted trustee from the East Coast, Dave Regan.

A year ago, Regan and Columbus gave a joint presentation to the California Public Employees Retirement System where Regan talked about cutting workers’ benefits if they don't meet the requirements of Kaiser's wellness program. You can see a video of Regan's comments on this earlier post.

 

Dave Regan with his buddy, Chuck Columbus, in Jan. 2014

At Monday's meeting, Columbus (who earns $1.5 million a year at Kaiser) told workers about the vague challenges facing Kaiser in the future, but forgot to mention one of the biggest challenges -- where to stash Kaiser's billions of profits. Last year alone, Kaiser pocketed profits of $3.1 billion.

Kaiser's Ray Baxter spoke about Kaiser's corporate wellness program, which has been "re-branded" as "Total Health.” 

Another speech had this intriguing title:  "One KP.”

A bevy of bloviating fatcats took the stage including Dennis Dabney (Senior VP of Labor Relations and Labor Management Partnership for Kaiser), Jim Pruitt (VP of Labor Management Partnership and Labor Relations for The Permanente Federation), Artie Southam (Executive VP of Kaiser’s Health Plan Operations), Hal Ruddick (Executive Director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions), and Dave Regan.

Lastly, here's a development that speaks volumes about the partnership bargaining. According to Kaiser workers in Northern California, Kaiser is currently laying off SEIU-UHW members with the assistance of SEIU-UHW officials. 

At Kaiser Vallejo Medical Center in Northern California, SEIU-UHW members with as many as 30 years of seniority are receiving layoff notices. They say workers are getting layoff notices without regard to seniority lists. And workers say SEIU-UHW is totally AWOL... even after workers make phone calls and send e-mails to Union Reps and SEIU-UHW’s headquarters in Oakland.

Again... these layoffs are happening as bargaining is underway. And as Kaiser's profits and membership are booming.

Where’s SEIU-UHW?

In the boss's pocket.

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Services Kaiser's Bosses on top of Beds of Cash

According to Tasty’s sources, Dave Regan’s name is increasingly met with cries of "Rat!” by workers inside Kaiser Permanente's hospitals.

What’s going on?

Simple. 

It has to do with the tsunami of greenbacks that are pouring into Kaiser’s bank account courtesy of Regan, SEIU-UHW and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.

In early 2012, Regan famously told “Partnership” workers that they’re overpaid and need to give up their pensions and cut their benefits.

In 2012, Regan negotiated massive cuts to SEIU-UHW members’ retiree health benefits that gave Kaiser a $1.9 billion windfall to its bottom line.

In the meantime, Regan and SEIU-UHW have allowed Kaiser to slash and chop workers' jobs at the same time that workers were forced to attend "Turbulent Times" meetings.

Now… Regan and his pals at Kaiser are swimming in record profits.

Ten days ago, Kaiser reported that it pocketed $1.1 billion in profits during the first three months of 2014 -- a 44% increase compared to last year!

To put that into perspective… Kaiser is making more than $12 million a DAY in profits.

And SEIU-UHW's members are now paying millions of dollars in new "partnership taxes" to Kaiser thanks to Regan.

Rats in purple suits!

For more details, here’s an article in the San Francisco Business Times: “Kaiser Permanente's Q1 Profits Soar 44 percent, to $1.1 Billion.”

And here’s Kaiser's press release on its profits: “Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan Report First Quarter 2014 Financial Results.”

SEIU-UHW's Hal Ruddick Brings 'Retro' Partnership Message to Kaiser Permanente Workers

Hal Ruddick -- the new Executive Director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions -- is apparently bringing a “retro” approach to the Partnership.

Like… way retro!

Check out a recent announcement given to Kaiser’s workers in California. (A full copy is below.)

It looks like Ruddick and Kaiser simply borrowed the following graphic image and ideological message from a 1950s corporate propaganda campaign.

 

Incredibly pathetic... and super condescending, right?

(In case you’re wondering, the 1950s-looking Boss who’s pictured next to “Happy Business” is Robert Pearl, the CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. He earns beaucoup bucks. That's why he's smiling.)

So what’s the purpose of the leaflet?

Kaiser, SEIU-UHW and the Partnership unions are pushing workers to attend 1 ½ hour presentations where Kaiser’s executives plan to discuss workers' “role in ensuring Kaiser’s continued success.” During the presentations, Kaiser’s fatcat execs deliver a gloom-and-doom message aimed at preparing workers to swallow massive benefit cuts accepted by SEIU-UHW and the Partnership unions.  

The timing of this propaganda offensive is quite comical. Just two weeks ago, Kaiser announced third-quarter profits of more than a half billion dollars!

In fact, Kaiser has pocketed $2.2 billion in profits during the first nine months of 2013, according to its recent press release. And since 2009, Kaiser piled more than $10.9 billion of profits into its bank accounts!

Hmm… sounds like a perfect time for Kaiser’s workers to make painful sacrifices so that Robert Pearl, Bernard Tyson and the rest of Kaiser’s Bosses can keep on grinnin' from ear to ear!

   Announcement from Kaiser Permanente and SEIU-UHW to Kaiser Employees to Attend Presentation on "Turbul...